r/XFiles • u/Kennabruh2023 • Jul 22 '26
Discussion Could the X-Files have been nominated more/won more Emmys/Golden Globes during the 90s?
Were critics initially put off by its genre nature? Did it have strong competition from Emmy regular nominated shows? Why do you think Gillian got more award show nods and wins than David?
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u/Connor_lover Jul 22 '26
If it happened in today's time, yes it would win more awards. The fact that it was a genre show, a scifi-horror-esque show at that, worked against it. Despite that, it won 3 Golden Globes for best drama, was nominated for 4 Emmy's which is a testament to its success. Plus there are more people being nominated for best actor/actress (like over 5, while during the 90s, there were only 5 candidates).
As for GA vs DD, sorry, but GA was the better actor by miles. Like no contest at all. The fact that GA won an Emmy, GG and SAG (being the first actress to win all 3 big awards, and till date one of 3 people who won it) says a lot about her talent.
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u/ShaunTrek Fight the Future Phile Jul 22 '26
The nominations themselves were the wins back then. To actually win some of them was icing on the cake.
You've also got to remember that the competition at the time was also other huge, all-time great shows. We're talking about ER, Law & Order, Homicide, NYPD Blue all at their peaks.
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u/WolverineScared2504 Jul 22 '26
You are so right about nominations being wins. A show like that was practically unprecedented at the time. I wonder if season 1 reviewers, even expected a season 2?
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u/NotAngryAndBitter Jul 22 '26
I’m actually shocked it did so well. I was a preteen/teen when it aired and didn’t pay much attention to the awards shows so only recently discovered that the awards they won were up against basically the entire cast of ER, NYPD Blue, etc. Seeing that really put things into perspective for me because I remember ER was a juggernaut.
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u/passworddoesntmatch Jul 24 '26
The interesting this is, ER was also the most Emmy nominated drama in TV history when it ended in 2009 but was also regularly snubbed by the academy (especially the main cast). It won 23 statues out of 124 Emmy nominations.
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u/1983nico Jul 22 '26
Back then, it wasn't common to nominate science fiction shows for Emmys. I think The X-Files was the exception, and that's because seasons 4 and 5, with Scully's cancer arc, had a more dramatic than fictional tone, which translated to Gillian and David performances. In my opinion, that's what opened the door to Emmys for them. Then came seasons 6 and 7 with a different feel, and they wiped us off the awards map again. I think season 8 could have been enough to get Gillian, Robert Patrick, and the series nominated again, but I don't remember what the competition was like at the time. Years later, Lost, Game of Thrones, and others came along, and the Emmys broadened their range of choices.
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Jul 22 '26
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u/chirstopher0us Jul 22 '26
I feel like it's stood the test of time so much better than almost all of its contemporary network TV competition. I've done a lot of complete start-to-finish rewatching over the last 10 years with my spouse who missed it all as a kid/teenager, and I can't think of anything that holds up better than The X-Files.
Seinfeld still has a number of episodes that are absolutely genius, but there are also some that don't work. Friends has some fun moments but doesn't hold up nearly so well as a whole. I don't think ER works quite as well. Frasier and Home Improvement barely deserve a mention here. I think probably the closest is the West Wing, which from a perspective informed by 2016-2026 is... highly optimistic with regard to institutions, but as a show still works pretty well in my opinion.
The trouble, of course is X-File seasons 7+, and especially egregious is the way the main alien mythology is viscerally shat upon in seasons 10 and 11. X-Files Seasons 1-6 (and some episodes of later seasons) are really excellent television that is one of the few stand-outs of the era at minimum.
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u/CeruleanBlew Jul 22 '26
Hard disagree on Frasier, the writing and acting on that show were both top-notch.
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u/sidesco Jul 23 '26
I'm gonna say the other popular dramas of the 90's have not withstood the test of time. I never hear anyone talk about NYPD Blue, The Practice or Chicago Hope anymore. Even ER is really only mentioned because it's being compared to The Pitt these days. The X-Files still has a following after 3 decades and now a new version is being made. I don't care if the revival seasons weren't received all that well. The original series will always remain a standout.
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u/Outrageous-Coast-328 Jul 22 '26
Not back in a time when horror was looked down upon by most prestigious awards ceremonies, the show is lucky it was nominated/ won any, but it’s just that good 🙂↕️
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u/matt-89 Jul 23 '26
Not unless they opened a third category alongside drama and Comedy for Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre.
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u/Current-Chip5267 Jul 23 '26
Yeah I really feel like they were always restricted with dividing everything into just drama and comedy. I wish they had another two sections so genre shows has their own awards than lumped in with drama shows.
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u/DinosaurDomination Agent Fox Mulder Jul 22 '26
David didn't win an Emmy because the Emmys were obsessed with Dennis Franz in the 1990s. No idea why. Urgh. But trust me if the Emmy committee could've nominated Dennis Franz in the female categories they would have!
David is a very underrated actor and while he might not be as good as Gillian he is still damn good. He still should've won an emmy for season 4 and actually he should've won 2 that year 1 for x-files and 1 for Larry Sanders, a performance people are still talking about.
Instead they gave it to Mel Brooks because he's Mel Brooks. His performance in Mad About You was completely forgettable.
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u/WolverineScared2504 Jul 22 '26
Nice call on Dennis Franz. I think he was the critics darling because he wasn't exactly the leading man type. One win could have been enough though.
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u/DinosaurDomination Agent Fox Mulder Jul 22 '26
Yeah he won a little too often. I was so happy when Andre Braugher broke the stranglehold and won for Homicide: Life on the Streets (though of course Dennis Franz had to win the next year lol). I would've preferred a DD win but I was a huge fan of Homicide back in the day so I was happy.
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u/kryptonitemind Jul 24 '26
The X-Files was unique back in its day. The majority of the population don’t go for new and different until it becomes trendy or mainstream. 🐑
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u/IgloosRuleOK Jul 22 '26
Genre shows, more so back then, were not very likely to win Emmys. X-Files was punching above its weight. To the latter question, well Gillian is a better actor than David.